What’s the best feeding routine at 7 months?

Routine for babies who are being spoon fed...

• On waking: Breast or infant formula milk (around 4oz)
• Breakfast: Baby cereal with mashed fruit
• Mid-morning: Breast or infant formula milk (around 4oz)
• Lunchtime: Mashed chicken and cooked lentils with rice and tomato sauce, breast or infant formula milk if wanted
• Mid-afternoon: Breast or infant formula milk (around 4oz)
• Teatime: Mashed sweet potato, avocado and red pepper
• Bedtime: Breast or infant formula milk (around 4oz)

Routine for baby-led weaning babies...

Your baby should ideally be given the opportunity to eat the same meal at the same time as the rest of the family

• On waking: Breast or infant formula milk (around 4oz)
• Breakfast: Bread/toast fingers with butter, fruit batons
• Mid-morning: Breast or infant milk (around 4oz)
• Lunchtime: Sweet potato chunks, well-cooked green beans and cherry tomatoes, breast or infant formula milk if wanted
• Mid-afternoon: Breast or infant formula milk (around 4oz)
• Teatime: Avocado pieces, red pepper strips, pasta pieces, grilled chicken
• Bedtime: Breast or infant formula milk (around 4oz)

Routine for those who are doing spoon-feeding mixed with baby led weaning

• On waking: Breast or infant formula milk (around 4oz)
• Breakfast: Baby cereal, pieces of fruit
• Mid-morning: Breast or infant formula milk (around 4oz)
• Lunchtime: Mashed chicken and cooked lentils with rice and tomato sauce; breast or infant formula milk if wanted
• Mid-afternoon: Breast or infant milk (around 4oz)
• Teatime: Cooked sweet potato chunks, chopped avocado and red pepper strips
• Bedtime: Breast or infant milk (around 4oz)

Mums share their 7 months feeding routines...

"Mine was on 3 milk feeds at 7 months - morning (after breakfast worked better for us), about 2-3pm and bedtime. If your lo is not actually asking for feeds I'd try waiting until he does and see if you can drop a feed that way. If your lo seems hungry enough for 4 feeds and you want to drop one, I'd suggest offering a snack at one of the feed times instead, maybe a yoghurt." TheOriginalLea77

"Tommy is now 7 months and it was only last week that we started to put a routine into place. It really is a matter of personal choice – what’s best for your family. For us, when Tommy was little no real routine suited us. But as he’s now a bit older we felt it would be best for all of us to get into a routine and he has been pretty quick to fall into it. There has been the odd day (due to teething) where the naps are longer/shorter but overall with the feeding its not been too bad." Tommysmum2

"From what I've read, I think the recommendation is that babies have between 18 and 21oz. I struggle to get 18oz into the girls on some days! The girls have 7oz at 7am and 6pm and take anything from 3-7oz at their 2pm feed." trying4babyM

5 great foods to introduce at 7 months

1. Avocado
2. Cooked lentils
3. Lean chicken (finger food or mashed)
4. Well-cooked pasta
5. Broccoli

"At around 7 months, if you're spoon-feeding, you'll move on from fairly smooth purees to offer much lumpier foods," says registered child nutritionist, Charlotte Stirling-Reed. "This will allow your baby to get used to different textures of food as he becomes more familiar with solids. Additionally, you can offer soft finger foods if you haven’t already, to encourage self-feeding and hand-eye-coordination."

How to get your baby used to lumps

"When giving lumps make sure that you have not over loaded the spoon," says mum Harjeet. "I started by adding baby pasta into pureed food to get my baby used to lumps with the base being a texture he was used to. Then from there I moved to mashed/lumpy food."

What to buy this month

Small plastic tubs with sealable lids. These are great for freezing baby-sized portions of food; just make sure they’re freezer- and microwave-proof.

Best feeding schedules for: 6 months | 8 months | 9 months | 10 months | 11 months

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• Chat to other mums who are weaning
• How do I do 'out and about' feeding?
• Welcome to the Weaning!